Tot fire engine house



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

E. R. IVES. TOY FIRE ENGINE HOUSE.

No. 454,651. Patented June 23, 1891..

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E. R. IVES. TOY FIRE ENGINE HOUSE.

No. 454,651. Patented June 23, 1891.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDIVARD R. IVES, OF BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT.

TOY FIRE-ENGINE HOUSE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 454,651, dated June 23,1891. Application filed February 24:, 1891. Serial No. 382,445. (Nomodel.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EDWARD R. IvEs, a citizen of the United States,residing at Bridgeport, in the .county of Fairfield and State ofConnecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in ToyFire -Engine Houses; and I do hereby declare the following to bea full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

My invention relates to automatic toys, and has for its object toproduce a toy of this class in which an alarm shall be soundedautomatically, and the doors of a toy building be automatically thrownopen, so as to allow a rolling toy--as, for instance, a fire-engine, ahosecarriage, or an ambulance-to move out of the building; and myinvention consists in the special construction and combination ofelements, which I will now describe, referring by numerals to theaccompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in whichFigure 1 is a longitudinal section of a toy engine-house, showing aclock-movement and a toy fire-engine and horses in elevation; Fig. 2, atransverse section of the engine-house, showing the clock-movement infront elevation; and Fig. 3 is a similar transverse section, showing aform in which the clock-movement is dispensed with.

1 denotes a toy house, which is provided with doors 2, having suitableopening-springs or spring-hinges 3.

In the present instance I have shown a toy house made to represent afireengine'house. The floor of this house consists of an incline 4:,made highest at the backthat is, opposite to the doors.

5 denotes a rolling toy, in the present instance a fire-engine withhorses. A hose-cart, hook-and-ladder cart, or ambulance may of course besubstituted, if preferred. 130th of the doors are provided with suitableopeningsprings or spring-hinges, and one of the doors, the right, asseen in Figs. 2 and 3, is made to overlap the other door slightly, so asto hold it in the closed position, and is itself provided with asuitable catch 6, which is engaged by an oscillating latch 7, having anarm 7 said latch being held at the locking position by a spring 8.

rotate a plate 13, provided with outwardlyextending pins 14, each ofwhich is made of suitable lengthto engage the operating-arm of thestriker, and one of which (denoted by 14) is made longer than theothers, so that in addition to engaging the operating-arm of the strikerit will engage the arm 7"" of the oscillating latch. The operation ofthese pins will be clearly understood from Fig. 2 in connection withFig. 1.

In the drawings, plate 13 is shown in the position in which the alarm isbeing sounded. Suppose, however, that plate 13 is in the reverseposition from that shown in Fig. 2 and that the movement is wound up. Assoon as the first pin upon the plate comes in contact with operating-arm11 a blow will be struck upon the gong. This is followed at the properinterval by another blow.

It will of course be understood that any desired alarm within the limitsof the size of the plate may be struck upon the gong and that byscrew-threading the ends of the pins and threading the holes in theplate which they engage the alarm can be changed. In the presentinstance the alarm is 23.

It will be noticed that after the first two pins one pin is omitted, theinterval being followed by three pins in regular order, the last pinbeing the long pin 14!. This pin causes the last stroke of the alarm tobe sounded, and an instant later engages the arm 7 of the oscillatinglatch, trips the latch and disengages it from catch 6, so that theopening-springs will instantly throw the doors to the open position, asshown in dotted lines in Fig. 1. The rolling toy rests against the inner sides of the doors when they are in the closed position, so that theinstant the doors are thrown open thereis nothing to hold it in place.The incline is made sufficiently steep, so that the toy will start theinstant the doors are thrown open and will acquire sufficient momentumto roll a number of feet away from the engine-house. After the doorshave been thrown open plate 13 will continue to rotate as long as themovement is running, and will repeat the alarm at suitableintervals-that is, once during each rotation of the plate.

15 is a sliding stop, which is adapted toengage the fly-wheel 16 of themovement (see Fig. 1, also dotted lines, Fig. 2) to stop the movement atany time before it has run down.

In Fig. 3 I have shown another form of the toy in which plate 13 isoperated by hand, the clock-movementbein g dispensed with. In this formthe pins extend outward from the periphery of the plate and pass throughan opening 17 in the side of. the house, so that they may be readilyoperated by the fingers. In this form the operator strikes any desiredalarm by giving the proper intervals between the actuations of theplate. The four shorter pins pass arm 7 a without engaging it, the sameas in the other form, each pin, however, engaging the operating-arm ofthe striker. Pin 14 in this form engages the arm 7 of the latch andreleases the'doors, permitting the engine to run out, as before, and aninstant later strikes the lastblow of the alarm.

It will of course be apparent that the various details'of constructionmay be considerably varied without departing from the prim ciple of myinvention.

I claim 1. The combination, with a toy house having an inclined floor,spring-opened doors, and a latch for retaining said doors in the closedposition, of a rolling toy adapted to be placed on the inclined floor,resting against the doors in the closed position, so that when the doorsare released the toy will roll out from the house.

2. The combination, with a toy house havin g an inclined floor, andspring-opened doors and a spring-actuated latch adapted to hold thedoors in the closed position, of a rolling toy adapted to be held uponthe inclined floor by the doors, a gong, a striker therefor havhaving aseries of pins 14, each of which engages the striker-arm, and a pin 14;,which engages the striker-arm and also trips the latch.

3. The combination, with a toy house having an inclined floor,spring-opened doors, and a latch for retaining said doors in the closedposition, of a rolling toy adapted to be placed on the inclined floor,resting against the doors, alarm mechanism, and mechanism, substantiallyas described and shown, for sounding the alarm and tripping the latch.

4. A toy house having an inclined floor, spring-opened doors, one ofwhich is provided with a catch 6, a spring-actuated oscillating latchwhich engages the catch to hold the doors in the closed position, and arolling toy adapted to be placed on the inclined floor, said toy restingagainst the door, in combination with a gong and striker, aclock-movement, and a rotating plate carried by said movement, which isprovided with a series of pins, each of which engages the striker, andanotherpin which engages the striker and also trips the oscillatinglatch.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.V

EDWARD R. IVES.

Vitnesses: V

A. M. WoosTnR, ARLEY I. MUNSON.

ing an operating-arm and a rotating plate

